I really don’t understand why weekends wear skate boards. Or maybe something faster than that! 😕 They just come and go, with things done half and Saturday nights is for yearning and wishing I had more time. If anybody asks me what did I do over the weekend, I did nothing much but I still did something. Some shopping, sat simply at home working on the old posts on the blog, and then visited a friend of mine – I guess that does sound like a decently packed weekend! I guess I need to learn how to space out my time so that I don’t feel drained… hmm… Coming to today’s recipe… I had already mentioned how crazy my girls are for idlis. Leftover batter is usually loosened out and converted to dosas. Most of the time, my girls need it only with their favorite coconut chutney, but…
Daqoos ~ Garlic Tomato Sauce
I don’t know what to name the struggle I am going through. The first few posts of the month came through rather easily but at the moment I am fighting a demon inside me that is growing very rapidly despite my fight. At times, I really feel I am ready to give up on the blog but then I think to myself that it was my solace during my tough times, how could I give it up when I don’t feel like it. A complicated question to the confused soul… hehe… I guess I will keep it at that for now… I had promised to post this recipe for Daqoos when I posted it along side Fami’s Bedouin Rice. I guess it’s time has just come now, hehe… Daqoos is basically a cooked and garlic flavored tomato sauce, which is served along side meat and rice in almost…
Scandinavian Chilled Cucumber Soup
I somehow like taking part in the Blogging Marathon, that is spearheaded by Valli. It seriously keeps my creative juices flowing. Otherwise, with the way my life is, I would happily be depending on my drafts and go on rather than creating something new! 😉 This month, it’s the version 86 and for this week, I chose “Scandinavian Cuisine”. Scandinavia is a region in Norther Europe and consists of Denmark, Sweden and Norway. Their food is said to be heavy on meat and fish, potatoes, dill, parsley, cucumbers and apples! I did quite a lot of search and as usual, finalized on three recipes, that I was sure my family would eat and enjoy. The first one had to be this cool and super easy Scandinavian chilled cucumber soup. What is the specialty? No cook!!! Yes, you absolutely need no gas, no stove, no saucepan. Simply dump in…
Tamatar Moonge Ki Phalli Ka Salan ~ Tomato Drumstick Stir Fry
By now, you may know I am a very impulsive cookbook buyer. Anything that catches my attention makes its way to my book collection. Most of the time I buy them through online sources, so usually it’s the reviews that get me through to the books. I must say that it has landed me into trouble by getting my hands onto really useless cookbooks. That’s a totally different matter… “The Jewels of Nizams” was one of my online purchases last year. I loved the way the book looked from the out, and then the phrase, “Recipes from the Khansamas of Hydrebad” really pushed me to get it through. The book is authored by Geeta Devi, whose other popular book is “Dastarkhan-e-Mughlai: 101 Easy to Cook Hyderabadi Recipes“. The book is done by Roopa Publications and the first edition released in 2013. In the introduction, the author does say…
Beetroot Pachadi
My kids love beetroot. So usually it’s not a fuss making them eat it. They love the upperi and Azza always asks for “red pooris” in case she is in a mood for some. 😀 I love using beetroots in bakes – it makes cakes amazingly moist, like this chocolate cake or these brownies. Anybody who has eating Keralite food would always think of a sadya – that meal on a long banana leaf, with rice and then so many curries. My colleague P once indicated a very funny incident when she was invited by a fellow classmate for a sadya. As they were seated in front of the leaf, she cringed seeing the quantity of each dish they were dropping off at the leaf – it’s never a huge quantity, mostly it’s a spoonful or slightly more. She didn’t notice the amount of dishes that were there….
Aloo Poha | Batata Poha ~ Beaten Rice Flakes with Potatoes
I am feeling sad. Winter seems to be going. We had a warm weekend and being in the kitchen wasn’t really comfortable. 🙁 We have had only one big rain this whole season and that is disheartening enough. Let’s hope there will be some rains before the summers officially start. Otherwise, the weekend was good. We dropped in to see HD’s local friend’s new born at the hospital. Their hospitality is amazing – they broke my diet royally by offering me too many sweets and also sending us off with a humongous box of chocolate that I have hidden in the fridge so that the girls don’t binge eat! Yesterday, we did a simple mall trot along with some grocery and then at night, I had to struggle to finish off my tasks for the day – always happens! My idea of eating poha – called aval in…
Kayi Curry ~ Malabar Sweet Plaintain Curry
In Malabar, we cook a lot with plantains, aka kaaya, kaayi, nenthrapazham… it is known by various names. There are so many ways we recycle our ripe plantains – it becomes nirachathu, a part of paal vazhakka, a combination with kooka or semiya, tossed up with eggs or with aval or just with coconut, as a part of puttu or becoming pradhaman, and how can we forget the favorite way of many Keralites – pazhampori and if it’s for the Malabar, then it’s unnakkaaya! I guess I have noted down all the ways that I have tried them into my cooking, even though there are many more ways, which InShaAllah, I will . Every Keralite will stock up their homes with ripe plantains, mainly because they are a very handy breakfast when you don’t want to cook anything and gets transformed into a snack, for unexpected guests! Such a versatile…
Bhindi Do Pyaza ~ Okra Onion Stir Fry
Hasn’t it been ages since I shared a quote on the blog? Hmm… So let’s break the ice! I have been in this kind of a feeling for quite some days now. Life does get very stressful even though you want to take it slow. Sometimes, you really don’t know how to go slow too… That’s the condition I am in at the moment. With having started working out, weekdays are really hectic. I get home late and don’t know how time flies before I finally hit the bed. The best part is I sleep like a log, waking up only when the alarm rings. 😀 Anyway, at times, I don’t seem to like the fast pace, but I am trying my best to put less pressure on myself. InShaAllah, some day I will be able to go on with the slow pace of life… 🙂 Sharing with…
Batu Moju | Wambatu Moju ~ Sri Lankan Brinjal Relish
After the Kukul Mas Curry, the next recipe I chose to try under the “Sinhalese Cuisine” theme in the Blogging Marathon #84 was this delicious brinjal relish called Batu Moju or Wambatu Moju. I was first informed about this dish by a Sri Lankan friend, Rizna on the JorenQ FB group. From then on, I had noted it down. I am not a fan of brinjal at all, but the spicy mishmash looked like a nice side dish. She had mentioned in her post that it goes really well with a dish of rice and curry. As usual, I set my Google search on these lines. I was bombarded with so many ways of cooking it as well! It is said that the dish is of Portugese origin, as Sri Lanka was once-upon-a-time a Portugese colony around the sixteenth century! Not much has been written about the dish…
Easy Rasam
The last Saturday of the month means it is time for a book review! Starting this series has been making me keep myself on my toes and go through the cookbooks I have with me to cook something and review about it too. Just this month, when my parents came, they lugged along in their baggage five more that I added to my collection, despite promising to myself that I wouldn’t get more. 🙁 So much so for promises… My girls, especially Rasha, keeps cribbing on how many cookbooks I have. Rasha gets irritated because I turn down her requests for more books and don’t allow HD to get her, even though they always manage to get things done through my back. I keep telling her that ummi is buying the books from my hard earned money, and at your age, you should be thinking more of borrowing and…
Panchmel Dal/ Panchratna Dal ~ Mixed Lentil Gravy
At times, when I am typing my posts, I really wonder if anybody reads blogs these days. Unless and until you know the ways of getting the blog into public eye, usually it feels like a very hidden and protected section in the world wide web. The WWW is also a deep pit, so in between all the floating blogs, everybody is fighting for the same space and similar audience. It really makes me wonder why I am still blogging. The readership doesn’t improve and nobody seems to be interested in commenting too, and that includes bloggers! When I had started blogging, the blogging community used to comment on my posts and there are times when I had so many comments to respond back to, but now it is quite countable. I don’t know if it is a point to feel low on, but definitely blogging is not what…
Shahi Malai Paneer
My posts have been just popping up as per schedule to the current Bakeathon, so I haven’t been posting any recent happenings as such. My parents came around late last week, Alhamdulillah and will be with us for a month. They have come in time for the girls’ school closing for winter vacations by this weekend. They are already really loving their time with their grandparents and literally driving them nuts the time they are at home. Hehe… I have also decided to take a month break from the gym so that I can get home as soon as I can after work and spend some time with them, InShaAllah… However, as much as there is sunshine, things are looking pretty bleak on the other side. Life is never expected to be a smooth ride anyway, right? “And We will surely test you with something of fear and hunger…